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Well, that’s the end of my break….heading off to work today. ~~~ SimplyBea – Kangaroo Island ~~~ Isn’t it just incredibly sad and overpowering at the same time that all the above can be happening at THE SAME MOMENT in a different part of the world? It’s almost like living between sliding doors where you enter different experiences as you open one door after another… it is just so awful to turn on the radio or the TV and hear of people being pulled out of collpsed/collapsing buildings, homes and properties swamped by flood water, crews racing out to battle fires and then…… the senseless shootings and attacks on peaceful demonstrators. Times like this make me want to just shut myself away from the rest of the world and just concentrate on that big bushy flame in front of me to melt glass and make pretty beads. So sad…… that in this day and age when nature shows her strength/fury and man grapples with survival that somewhere else in the world there is senseless life taking. There are better things in life than power struggles and dictatorship. My thoughts go out to those who are caught in the floods of Queensland, fires in Western Australia, earthquake in New Zealand and protests in the Middle East. Namaste ~~~ SimplyBea – Kangaroo Island ~~~ When I heard on the radio that another Australian soldier had been killed in Afghanistan, I had no idea how close to home this story was….the radio reception at home is 3rd world quality so I often miss out on details, in this case the name of the soldier. When I saw some posts on Facebook I thought it was just general condolences being sent out in sympathy of the young soldier to his family. When I finally realised who it was, I was shocked. My deepest condolences go out to the Larcombe family for their loss. The story is here…… To me, this is another demonstration of how events from faraway places can effect us so much totally out of the blue. ~~~ SimplyBea – Kangaroo Island ~~~ Someone recently asked me what my signature style is and that got me thinking. I am very much influenced by the colours of the ocean as I spent many years working on the beach at Seal Bay as a guide and it was the draw of the ocean that brought me to Seal Bay (via an ex-husband) so that is an influence in most of my favourite beads. I love textures and the organic feel of silver on glass, something I incorporate a lot of in my beads. I am not saying it is a look or technique I created but it was one which I fell in love with and have incorporated into my ‘signature beads’ with a twist….. literally, a twist to bring out the colours and combine the textures.
Just a few examples of recent beads which I had to photograph to upload on ArtFire for sale to raise funds for the Queensland Flood Relief fund. Do you see a signature style? Sometimes I melt the glass smooth and at other times (my personal preference) I leave some texture on the bead which the wearer/owner can appreciate, much like a ‘worry bead’ or a ‘thinkers stone’……… Well……. back to the caravan to take advantage of this cooler weather. Making beads when it is hot is a challenge and I am trying to put together a stockpile of beads to make earrings and maybe simple bracelets and necklaces……… stay tuned! ~~~ SimplyBea – Kangaroo Island ~~~ After that depressing post, I had to cheer myself up and I knew there were beads waiting to cool down in the kiln… so I got them off their mandrels and took a quick snapshot.
I absolutely love this shape and they are dainty enough to use for earrings so I shall be a busy girl once the weather warms up in the next couple of days. I am going to take advantage of this cooler temperature to work on the torch as much as possible. Catch you later! ~~~ SimplyBea – Kangaroo Island ~~~ What can I say? I ordered a special tool in the new year, January 4th to be exact, and with ‘this n that’ it took forever for the supplier (and their supplier) to get back to me with shipping rates and finally 27th Jan I thought we had it sorted, I agreed to pay the higher shipping for “6 day shipping” which almost doubled the price of the tool……. and now MORE THAN 16 days later……..I am still waiting. Somewhere between “YES – I will pay the extra for the faster shipping since it took you so long to get back to me……” to a couple of days ago…..checking, checking, checking the ‘tracking number’ they sent me….. finally after LOTS of emails, phone calls…… I receive an email….. “….we are very sorry.. apologies, this is not the way we do business…..we will refund you the shipping charges….” Bottom line…… they shipped it out by NORMAL INTERNATIONAL parcel post!!! At this stage…… do I care anymore that I have lost sales because of their inefficiency? YES!!!!! But I can’t do anything about it except stew and feel grossly depressed so I am just going to ‘pretend’ it is on the slow boat from Canada coming after a twice-round-the-world circumnavigation…..and if it gets here at some stage….. well, I hope it works. So… who is this supplier you ask? If you really want to know, send me an email and I will tell you. In the meantime I am enjoying the cooler temperatures on my days off to make beads with my new bead rollers, so I hope this will allow me to make more ‘matched’ beads for earrings. Stay tuned! ~~~ SimplyBea on Kangaroo Island ~~~ Well folks, no posts in a while because I have been ‘a tad busy’ and it has been for a good cause! I have sold 46 out of 49 beads (Carmen – I will get yours out to you when we get back!) for the Flood Relief fund and once we get back from our short break away, I will have another week to churn out some more for the fundraiser. It looks like I might be able to get pretty close to making it up to $1000.00 by the end of February – please stay tuned and I will post here and on my Face Book page when I have more up for sale. In the meantime, this weekend is a family weekend, we are at Port Elliot for the wedding of a VERY IMPORTANT couple and I am going to be spending some time with my daughter!!! Thank you for your support and I will keep you updated! ~~~ SimplyBea ~~~ Well….. first of all, I should be in bed sleeping after such a late night/early morning on the torch. The visions of brown rushing water and people on rooftops waiting to be rescued, towns submerged in no time at all….. visions which were too depressing and hard for me to accept. My thoughts turned to the ocean where the water should be clean and clear as mother nature intended…… but we know the reality unfortunately. So I have used lots of silver foil to bring out the sparkle of the ocean hues and a beautiful raku frit with hues of blue, purple, green and brown….. tones which would represent the situation without being depressing and textures in the beads with twists, turns, rakes and sometimes even ‘drops’ on the surface…..
Lots of silver foil in this one with aquamarine tones to capture the feel of the ocean where the water will eventually end up.
A darker cobalt blue base
Thank you for looking and I will be putting more beads up as they are ready on my Artfire Store. ~~~ SimplyBea on Kangaroo Island ~~~ Wow, the response has been overwhelming and I am so touched by everyone’s generosity. Finally!!! Slow internet connections, sore throat, headaches, fever……. grrrrrrr!! NOW it is DONE and the first 20 bead charms are up for sale on my ArtFire shop. Please take a look, if one grabs your fancy hopefully you will want to have it for yourself or give it as a pressie to someone you cherish. It is all going to a good cause….. all proceeds will be donated to the Premier’s Queensland flood relief fund. I will keep making and selling beads for this series until the end of February and hopefully this will raise a good amount of money for the fund. Every bit helps and if I can’t lift heavy stuff, take leave to be there……. at least I can try to help by doing something I love doing….. making beads for their cause. Thank you in advance for your generosity – please feel free to forward the link on. ~~~ SimplyBea on Kangaroo Island ~~~
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